Metropolitan Board Awards $13.9 Million Contract to Construct Recycled Water Demonstration Facility

Plant will generate information needed for potential large-scale
regional recycled water program

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has taken a
significant step toward the potential development of what would be one
of the world’s largest water
recycling programs.

The district’s Board of Directors voted Tuesday (July 11) to award a
$13.9 million contract for the construction of an advanced water
treatment demonstration facility that will take treated wastewater and
purify it through various advanced processes to produce a safe,
high-quality water source to replenish the region’s groundwater basins.

The 500,000-gallon-per-day demonstration facility will be operated for
at least one year to generate information needed for the potential
construction of a full-scale recycled water plant that has been proposed
by Metropolitan and the Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County.

“This is a great opportunity for Metropolitan to develop a new source of
local water,” Metropolitan board Chairman Randy Record said. “Though
last winter brought record rain and snow to many parts of California,
our water supply challenges remain. We face a future that will bring
more drought years, compounded by uncertainties from climate change and
variability of imported water supplies. Recycled water would provide us
a reliable, drought-proof, climate-resilient, local supply to recharge
groundwater basins and supply the needs of the region’s growing economy,
even in dry years.”

Through the Regional Recycled Water Program, Metropolitan would take
wastewater treated at the Sanitation Districts’ Joint Water Pollution
Control Plant in Carson—water that is currently treated and discharged
into the ocean—and purify it using reverse osmosis and other processes.
These advanced treatment technologies have been used for decades in
California and across the globe, and produce high-quality water that
meets all state and federal standards.

“We are excited about this important first step toward the potential
full-scale Regional Recycled Water Program,” said Grace Hyde, chief
engineer and general manager of the Sanitation Districts. “The program
would enable cost-effective recycling of our largest untapped source of
treated wastewater and let us play a bigger role in helping the region’s
communities to reliably meet their future water needs.”

While the treatment process would be based on proven technologies,
Metropolitan is also studying a way to increase efficiency using
membrane bioreactor processes. The demonstration plant will help refine
this innovative treatment process and assist with the regulatory
approval for a full-scale plant.

The demonstration facility, costing an estimated $17 million including
design costs, also will be used to confirm treatment costs, allow for
further assessment of the economic viability of a full-scale program,
provide opportunities for public outreach and produce other data that
can be used in the decision-making process for the future design,
operation and optimization of a full-scale program.

“This facility will be key to demonstrating the effectiveness of a
state-of-the-art optimized treatment process and generate valuable
information to ensure the success of any full-scale program,”
Metropolitan General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger said.

Under a full-scale program, which would take about 11 years to design
and build, the purified water would be pumped from the Carson treatment
facility through a new regional pipeline network to four groundwater
basins in Los Angeles and Orange counties, allowing for additional
natural filtration and storage. Those basins, which provide water for
7.2 million people, are currently recharged with local rainwater, water
imported from the Colorado River and Northern California and, in some
cases, recycled water.

The full-scale program, as envisioned, would produce and distribute up
to 150 million gallons of purified water per day to groundwater basins,
enough water to serve more than 335,000 homes. Feasibility studies
completed in late-2016 estimate the full program would cost
approximately $2.7 billion to build. Annual operations and maintenance
costs for this program are estimated at about $129 million. Based on
those estimates, water produced by the program would cost about $1,600
an acre-foot, which is comparable to other new local supplies.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a
state-established cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving
nearly 19 million people in six counties. The district imports water
from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local
supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation,
recycling, storage and other resource-management programs.

Contacts

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
Rebecca
Kimitch, (213) 217-6450; (202) 821-5253, mobile
Bob Muir, (213)
217-6930; (213) 324-5213, mobile